Thursday, June 14, 2007

I haven’t cooked or baked much these days – husband and I are trying to lose some weight so our dinners are pretty much salad + grilled beef for him and salad for me, sometimes an omelet, too. Nothing fancy.
There was a holiday here last week and we went to the beach to hang with my family. I cooked a bit there but didn’t take any photos. It was a lot of fun because I had the most special helpers in the kitchen: my sister, my stepbrother’s 8 year-old son – who is an adorable child and like my nephew – and an 11 year-old cousin. They kept arguing to see who would measure the ingredients, beat the batter… :)
We made pizza, hot dogs and also 2 recipes from this book – the kids went crazy with the photos and took forever to decide what they wanted me to prepare. I ended up making a delicious lime pie – Jessica’s request - and also a brownie with a chocolate icing from another recipe.

I don’t want to bore my lovely readers with the lack of recipes, so I’m posting these muffins, which I made when Jessica last visited me.
They’re good and very tender, but next time I’ll add more orange zest.

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF and grease 12 muffin cups.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar and chocolate chips and blend well.
Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice, eggs and orange rind. Beat.
Stir liquid into dry mixture and blend just until moistened.
Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes or until done.

I love the combination of orange and chocolate, so this sound right up my alley. I hadn´t noticed them in Dorie´s book, then again, it´s hard to focus while browsing through that book! Yesterday I made the allspice muffins and oh my god, they are amazing with the crumble she adds on top... so much for weight loss haha

Hi Patricia, Thanks for popping by my new blog! OMGosh I love anything with orange in it. Your muffins look wonderful and I will definitely try them. Funny - I pulled out my favorite orange muffin recipe last night to bake soon and will add to my blog.

They look delicious. Love the orange choc combo as it always reminds me of Christmas where in England nearly everyone would get a Terry's chocolate orange in their stocking. Sounds like you had a lovely day with your family. I'm still waiting for my Dorie book - off to sulk! Amanda

Do you think your choc chip muffins will work with limes too? I´ve got 2 limes. They are hard as golf balls. However, if I manage to cut them in halves, I know there is a whole lot of juice inside them.

Patricia, sounds like you had a fabulous holiday with your family. I miss my family - I only get to see them once per year. Choc & orange is one of my fav. combinations - those muffins look yummy. p/s: Good luck with the diet. My partner just joined the gym but he is still eating my desserts ;-)

Marce, these are not from her book - the desserts I made with the kids are, but it's a pity there was no time for photos! lolI totally agree with you - going through that book is so hard, we feel like baking everything there! :D

Betty, your blog is beautiful and I'm glad you like mine, too, sweetie!

Lydia, I love childhood memories - and food brings out many of them, don't you think?

Amanda, that chocolate sounds so good! Just like I told Lydia, I love how food brings out so many wonderful memories.You are such a great cook, you're gonna love that book. :)

Janet, I look at your photo and I cannot believe you have 2 kids - you are so young! ;)Your family is well taken care, I'm sure - who wouldn't love having muffins on their lunch box?? I would.

Karin, I absolutely love limes, so I'll try anything with it. What if you microwave the limes for a few seconds? You'll get extra juice this way. I think that the only thing you would have to adjust is the amount of sugar.

Nora, I did - I love spending time with the kids. Thank you for your kind words - I can tell that the poor man must be suffering having to cut down your fabulous food. :)

Orange and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations. And the muffins look delicious. I usually freeze muffins immediately--thinking it will dissuade me from gobbling too many down! :):) That works SOMETIMES. :):) I don't think it would work with those yummy looking muffins.

Hi there, Just wanted to thank you for such a great recipe, made them this week and they were incredibly popular with my Hubby and Daughter! I'm in the UK and used Cadbury's dark chocolate Bournville chips (or would recommend Green and Blacks) which worked really well with the orange. Just eating the last one as I post this, yummy!